Illuminated moving sign



S. W. KOLK.

'ILLUMI NATED MOVING SIGN. APPLlCA-TlON FILED APR.29, 1921.

1 $02,075 Patented Jan. 3, 1922 3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 3, 1922.

Application filed April 29, 1921. Serial No. 465,415.

To all whom it may camera:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN W. KoLK, a citizen of the Republic of Poland, (who has declared his intention of becoming a citizen of "the United States,) and a resident of North Tonawanda, in the county of Niagara and the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Im rov'ements in Illuminated Moving Signs, 0 which the following is a specification. I

My invention relates to signs having a display front illuminated from within a casing, its legend moving continually across the face of the display front in a horizontal direction.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide anilluminated sign for various purposes, which will offer a greater space for making announcements, advertising and the like, than its display front.

Another aim of my invention is to provide a moving illuminated sign, the le end 10f which can be set up from separate c aracter plates and changed to a different one in a very short time, using the same character plates. In other words one of my aims is to equip each sign with a sufficient number of character plates which could be used to-set up any desired legend, eliminating thus the necessity of making a special sign bearing band or belt for each different legend.

A further aim of my invention is to provide an illuminated moving sign with its legend traveling smoothly across its display front without the usual flickering of light, disagreeable to the spectators eyes.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 represents a. front elevation View, (parts ofcasing, display window and chain of character plates respectively, being removed to illustrate arrangement of different parts of display front.)

Figure 2 represents a front elevation view of a number of character plates connected together in a chain to form.a certain advertisement.

Figure 3 represents a top plan view of the sign with the top cover removed, and the display fronts shown part1 in section.

Figure 4 represents a ragmentary sectional elevation view of art of the casing, (indicated by lines 44 1n Fig. 3) showing also details of carrier rollers and the electric motor drive arrangement.

Figure 5 represents a detail elevation view of a character plate, showing a modified way of perforating.

igure 6 represents a detail sectional top View of Fig. 5 indicated by lines 6-6.

Figure 7 represents a detail front elevatron view of two'character plates connected together, with part of one plate removed to illustrate the way of connecting.

Figure 8 represents a top view of Fig. 7 with part of one character plate shown in section.

The sign embodying the present invention includes a casing 9 (made preferably of sheet metal) having three display fronts, although I may use a casing having one or any desired number of display fronts. Each of said fronts has a display opening or a window 10, covered from the inside of the casing by a translucent panel 11, placed V61; tically and held to casing 9 at top and bottom by channel guides 12 and at sides by clamps 13. In rear of translucent panel 11, placed vertically and parallel to said panel, is a rear translucent panel 14, held by brackets 15, fastened to the bottom of casing 9. Said translucent panels are preferably of glass but I may use any other suitable material. Ample space is left between front translucent panel 11 and rear translucent panel 14, for a chain of character plates 16 to pass between said translucent panels in a horizontal direction.

The character plates 16 are made from thin, flexible, opaque material, preferably sheet metal, being perforated with. round holes in single file, to represent different letters, characters, numbers or a plurality of letters, characters or numbers as shown on Fig. 2 in a character plate having a perforated word Cola where in order to reproduce a certain trade mark or any other special inscription, it is necessary to perforate the whole word or a number of words in one single late. I may also use a; different wag ofper orating character plates, one ofwhic is shown in Fig. 5.

A number of holes 17 are provided in each character plate at one of its connecting sides, and an e ual number of bosses 18 in line with said oles 17, are riveted at the other connecting side of each late. Bosses 18 are sli htly smaller in iameter than holes 17, %eing. spaced in each character plate to en ge said holes 17 of any other character p ate.

An elongated spring clip 19 1s fastened at one of its endson'" top of every boss 18 by means ofgrivet 20, the other outstandingend of said, spring clip 195 is intended to j of its ends,to enlarged top and. bottom 7 bosses -18,' -having the outstanding ends pointed inward toward the opposite edge .of

keep. to ether two connected character plates, with holes 17 of'on'e plate seated on bosses 18 of another plate. By ,means of the same rivet 20, a springclip 19 and boss 18; are fastened on the front face of each 7 character plate and also .a reinforcing washer 2l'on the hack face of said" plate. I Extreme top and bottom enlarged spring clips 19are fastened stationary each atone character plate. All intermediate small springs-clips 19, 'areyfas tened at one endi each on the top of the intermediate sma bosses 18in such way, that the other out-. standing ends can beturned around 111. any

7 horizontal direction tosaidbosses-18. m

Before connecting'o'ne" character plate 1 to another all intermediate small spring clips 19 are pointed toward vertical center,

line of said character plate 16, or in the,

"samedirection as the. stationary enlarged top and bottom clips-19. "To connect two character plates together all spring clips 19 of one plate, are pushed first through holes 30.

17 of another'plate,bosses 18 engag ng said holes 17. It will be noted that outstandin ends of spring clips 19, have tips turne up slightly, toenable said spring clips 19 to pass easily through: holes 17. I

o After said holes 17 of one character plate are seated on bosses 1801 another plate, outstanding mediate clips 19 are turned in .the opposite 7 other.

, I .2 on the accompanying drawings shows a part of the said chain or belt with diflerent letter, character and number plates connected together, to form a certain advertisement, in this case an inscription Drink- @019. *5c. It will be noted that I use any desired character plates as for instance a dash or a star as spacing between'cerj tain words, letters or numbers.

A' desired number'of character plates 16 are connected in an endless chain, which is. V earned In a horizontal d1rect1on,on carrier roller 24 in an end ess path inside the casing rollers 22, driv' {roller-.23 and tension 9, 'andbetween front and rear translucent I pa'nels -11 andjlasshow'n in Fig. 3. Said "chain of character'plates is guided between said translpcent panels in a horizontal direcends of some of the small inter 'at toporbottom'." i I r A spring tension roller 24 designed to take,

tion by guides "12as can be seen in are cylindrical in .shape, having a nun ber of parallel, 1 horizontal grooves 25- around arrier rollers 22,driving roller 23, and tension roller 24, made preferably of metal, I

their body; said grooves form clearance for .bosses 18 and spring clips 19 of character plates 16, being spaced accordingly to receive said bosses and clips, while the chain of character plates 161s passingon said.

rollers.

slipping ofchain of character plates and to improve the smooth .runnin of said chain of plates on said roller's.

roller,-to-guide and keeplsaid chain of char. acter platesjlG-on said rollers.

vertical shafts'27 held at top and bottom by worm gear 31 fastene to its bottom,'re-

" volves on shaft 29 heldat top and bottom by' a bracket-.304 .Enmeshed with the worm gear 31 is a worm' 32 mounted on the end of a shaft 33 running inla'bearing 34.1 on the opposite end of the shaft 33 a gear 3 5 is mounted, which is driven by a pinion 36 A' rubber shell 2 is tightly fitted over a. roller body and in grooves 25, to prevent.

brackets 28 which are fastened tothe bottom of. casing 9 A drivin' roller 23 having a Hiding flan es 'P '0v1ded atthe top andbottom-of each o [35 All carrier rollers 22 revolve: freelyf on set on the shaft37 of an electricmotor 38.

Althou h at present this driving mechanisn as s own on the accompanying drawmgsis contem'plated,1I may use a different arrangement: of gearing oradifierentmgitor,

Sufihas an or a Pr s' e o a-ny other suitable sourceiof po 1 To keep the chainfof character; plates -firmly on the driving roller 23,* a pressure roller 39 is used which is smaller in diameter than the carrier rollers 22, but otherwise, a constructed in the same way, revolving freely on the shaft 10, held at'the-tplp and bottom by a hinge housing 41, hinged by means of 7 1311143 to. housi-n 42?;mountedon the wall 4i'fastened at of the casing-9.1; f H one end to housin 742; Sure he hin sa e pressure roller 39, pressingitlsteadilyagainst rts a steady presthe chain of..characterflplates 16 passing on 1 said driving roller"39, preventing slipping of said chamfof plates while" in. motion.

rubber shell is jal so fi tted over body of pres-f." I

sure roller 39, butithas noguidingfiange's "41 and thus-on the 115 I up. play. and keep hflchaixi -of character 3 plates 16 moving' on carrier'rollers-22 at a proper tension, is runningfreely onshaft 45' set in two arms 46," wh1chare vlhinged. by 7 means. of shaft 48 to a housing 47,;inounted' on the wall'of the casingfi. :Af 1coil spring.

49 hooked at one end tobracket 50,;mounte'd on the wall'of the casing 9 and at the other end, to a hook 51 of fork housing 52, exerts a steady pull on spring tension roller 24, both ends of its shaft 45 being held in said fork housing 52.

In back of rear translucent panel 14 inside of the casing 9, a number of electric lights 53 are mounted on receptacles 54, which are fastened to panels 55. A sheet metal reflector 56 fastened also to panels 55 by means of brackets 57, is designed to refiect the rays of said electric lights on rear translucent panel 14.

Eleven electric lights are shown on the accompanying drawings of the present embodiment of my invention, but I reserve the right to use any desired number of lights, different arrangements of the same, or a different source of light.

To set the sign in operation first a desired legend is set up by connecting together proper character plates 16 in a chain or belt which is wound on carrier rollers 22, driving roller 23 and tension roller 24 and the ends of said chain are connected together, thus making it endless as shown on Fig. 3.

An electric motor 38'is then started, which by means of above described gearing, transmits a rotary motion to the driving roller 23, thus .pulling said chain of character p'lates between said driving roller 23 and pressure roller 39, on carrier rollers 22 in an endless path and between said front and rear translucent panels 11 and 14. Lights 53 are turned on illuminating rear translucent panel 14. Rays of light passing through said rear translucent panel 14 are distributed evenly passing through perforations in said character plates 16 and finally are reflected onfront translucent panel 11.

As the chain of character plates 16 is moving between said translucent panels in a horizontal direction, the reflected legend of the said chain is also traveling across the face of the said front translucent panel in an endless procession. It will be noted that character plates 16 are not visible from outside the casing 9, being covered from sight by a translucent panel 11, which permits only a luminous image of the legend to pass through.

While I have described herein one embodiment of my invention and have described different ways in which the same may be used, it will be understood that the same may be further modified without departing from the s irit of present invention and I desire it un erstood that I reserve the right to make necessary changes or modifications within the sco e of the invention as expressed in claims.

aving fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a movin illuminated sign, an endless legend bearing belt comprising a plurality of independent, flexible, interchangeable, opaque sections connected to each other at ends, each of said sections having a plurality of openings arranged to resemble' a single character, or trademark, means for connecting said opaque sections to each other at ends to form an endless belt, said means also providing for quick detaching of one section from another when desired.

2. In a moving illuminated sign a combination with the casing having one or more display fronts, each front having a display window, an endless belt comprising a plurality of independent, flexible, opaque sheets, connected to each other at vertical side edges, each of said sheets having a lurality of openings arranged to form a sing e character, means for connecting said opaque sheets to each other at vertical side edges, said means also providing for quick detaching of any of said opaque sheets from another vwhen .de-

sired; a plurality of rollers adapted to carry and move said belt in horizontal direction across said display window and in endless translucent panels in horizontal direction,

said belt being formed by connecting together a plurality of separate, opaque, flexible and interchangeable sections, each section being perforated to represent a character, means for connecting ends of said sections together, said means providing for connection of any of said sections to any other of said sections, said means roviding also for holding firmly together ends of said sectipns while connected and further, said means providing alsofor quick detaching of one section from another when desired, a plurality of rubber covered carrier rollers of cylindrical, shape having guiding ,flan'ges at the top and bottom, adapted to carry said belt between said front. and rear translucent panels of display window in a horizontal direction and 111 an endless, pathinside said casing; a rubber covered cylindrical driving roller rotated by means of a suitable source of power and a suitable gearing moving said belt on said carrier rollers in horizontal direction, a rubber covered cylindrical pressure roller adapted to press said belt against display fronts each'front having a display ings arranged to resemble a single character,

or trademark, means for connecting said opaque sheets to each other at vertical side edges, said means also providing for quick detaching of any of said opaque sheets from another when desired, a plurality of rubber covered rollers adapted to carry and move said belt of'said opaque sheets in horizontal direction in said narrow space between said translucent panels and in endless path insideof said casing, a source of light in the inside of said casing in back of said translucent panels of said display window.

5. In a moving illuminated sign a combination with a casing having one or more display fronts, each front having a window of two translucent panels placed vertically at said window one in back of the other and 7 parallel to each other, a space between said panels, a plurality of flexible, opaque character-plates passing in said space between said translucent panels in a horizontal direction, said character. plates being connected to ether in an endless chain by means of plurahtyof bosses near vertical side edge of each character plate and a corresponding plurality of holes near opposite side edge of each character plate, said holes of each plate adapted to seat on said bosses of any other character plate, a plurality of suitable spring clips one seated on top of each of said bosses, said spring clips being adapted to keep together connected character plates firmly with said holes of one character plate seated on bosses of another character plate, each of said character plates being perforated to represent either a letter, number or character, or a plurality of letters, numbers or characters, a plurality of cylindrical rollers to carry said chain of character plates in a horizontal direction between said translucent panels of said display Window and in endless path inside said casing, said rollers having guiding flanges at top and bottom and a tightly fitted rubber shell around their bodies, a plurality of suitable horizontalgrooves around the body of each of said rollers and in said rubber shell, said grooves being adapted to receive said bosses and spring clips of said character. plates, means for moving said chain of character plates on said rollers between said translucent panels and in endlesspath inside said casing, means for keeping said chain of character plates stretched on said rollers at proper tension, a source of light-inside said casing in back of said translucent panels of said window.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

STEPHEN w. KOLK.

Witnesses: I

FERNAND E. BELUCHE, WALTER R. MALAOH. 

